CEDAR CITY, Utah, Dec. 27 ? Tyler Quinney's ankle is doing just fine.
    Four nights after missing Southern Utah's game at UNLV with a sprained ankle the senior forward scored 16 points and pulled down eight rebounds in 36 minutes of playing time to lead Southern Utah to a 76-51 win over Sacramento State Saturday night.
    In addition to Quinney's 16 points John Clifford scored 14 and pulled down 13 a career-high-tying 13 rebounds while Dave Marek and Davis Baker each scored 13 points. Cory Davis came off the bench to post career scoring and assists totals as well, with 11 points and nine dimes as nine of the 10 Thunderbirds who got in the game scored.
    “This was a great team effort,” SUU Coach Roger Reid said after the game. “To have five players score in double figures makes a statement about this team. We got great production from out starters and we got good production off the bench as well.
    “It was good to see [Quinney] come back after missing that game and play as well as he did,” Reid noted. “We were wondering going in if we should let him sit out again but he wanted to play and he did a great job for us. [Clifford] had an outstanding effort for us as well and [Marek] is starting to do the things he can do for us. [Baker] got into early foul trouble but played well in the second half and we also got a great contribution from Cory Davis. To have someone come off the bench like Cory did tonight and have nine assists with 11 points is the kind of depth we need to have.”
    The game went back-and-forth over the first 10 minutes but the Thunderbirds took control going down the stretch of the first half.
    Holding a 16-15 lead with 9:31 to play the Thunderbirds went on a 16-2 run. Marek and Baker each hit 3-pointers, Clifford scored six points and Quinney added four during the run.
    SUU then ended the half with another spurt and led 44-25 at the break.   
    Sacramento State got the first two baskets of the second half to pull within 44-29, but the Hornets would get no closer than 15 the rest of the way. Marek hit one of his three 3-pointers at the 15:48 mark to stake the Thunderbirds to a 54-31 advantage and the lead would grow to as many as 29 after a Jarren Jeffrey free throw with 4:54 to play.
    The Thunderbirds wound up shooting 52 percent from the floor for the night (26-of-50), including .583 (14-of-24) in the first half while holding CSUS to 42.6 percent shooting (20-47). SUU out-rebounded Sacramento St. 34-to-26, had 20 assists to the Hornets' 11 and turned the ball over just seven times. Individually, SUU held Loren Leath, the Hornets' career scoring leader who was averaging a team-high 13.7 points per game coming in, to just six points on 2-of-10 shooting.
    The only down-side of the SUU effort, in Reid's eyes, was the free throw shooting.
    “The only thing I was disappointed with was our free throw shooting,” he said. “We came into this game hitting over 80 percent of our free throws but tonight we could only manage 62 percent and that's disappointing. We need to continue to pride ourselves on our free throw shooting.”
    The game was Southern Utah's final non-conference game of the season. The Thunderbirds resume Summit League play with a pair of games next week, a New Year's Eve game at Western Illinois and a matchup with IUPUI on Jan. 2. SUU is 2-0 in Summit League play and 4-9 overall.
    Sacramento State, which hosts Pacific on Tuesday night, dipped to 2-11 with the loss.

-- SUU --